Enjoying the Ride...

I married an amusement park enthusiast. He's crazy, that man. He loves all rides that twist and turn, and his body seems to handle them with ease. Impressive, I tell ya. I, on the other hand, can barely survive a ride in the back seat of my minivan without getting car-sick. Make me read a map while I'm back there, and it's all over for sure.

So we have this family tradition of attending our local fair every summer, and I have to admit that my adventurous spirit has been lacking most years. Just the thought of climbing the steps of the Tilt-O-Whirl about sends me over the edge. Lucky for me, for many years in a row, I've had a convenient excuse for letting my husband do the riding honors with our kids. Need someone to stay back with the baby and the stroller? Sure, I'd be happy to sacrifice for the family. Heh. Someone needs to take the pictures anyway, right?

Family divided.

My problem now is that my youngest is starting to ride rides. This wasn't supposed to happen. Last summer all of a sudden my little excuse was dragging her daddy off to the toddler helicopters, and three excited boys were yelling my name to "Come on, Mom!" Oh dear. Can't we all just ride the carousel together as a family?!

Somehow in the midst of sheer boy excitement (clearly before I could come to my senses!), I had reluctantly agreed to their request and found myself on this thing:

Somebody help me. Who knew my mouth was this big (don't answer that)? And why is no one else screaming (for all I know the ride hadn't even started yet - ha!)?! I told myself that I was pulling the natural "I'm here for ya, bud." mom-move when I grabbed hold of the two boy legs seated beside me, but between you and me, I was desperately reaching out for a little comfort for myself. Haha.

But guess what? I survived the ride that day. And I not only survived it, I actually enjoyed it!! Turns out my thinking was all wrong. Not all rides are as crazy as they seem, and a little effort on my part sure did go a long way in encouraging my fun-loving boys. We all left the fair that day pretty pumped up that we had accomplished something together ("Can you believe Mom actually rode that thing??"), and even a little more connected than we were when we arrived. And it was worth every bit of the "sacrifice" it took to get me out of my comfort zone.

To catch the rest of this post, join me this morning over at Good Morning Girls ...

Mom Heart Conference!

{Courtney, Angela, my new just-met-her-at-the-conference-and-we-totally-clicked friend Kim, and me!}

I am back! I just returned from Dallas after a jam-packed, fun-filled, slightly exhausting (ha!) weekend at Sally Clarkson's Mom Heart Conference. Courtney and Angela from Good Morning Girls were invited to speak at the conference, so not only was I able to participate in the conference as an attender, but it was also a great opportunity to meet up and spend some face time (as opposed to cyberspace time!) with these sweet friends! What an awesome privilege it is to do ministry together with these girls!

There is so, so much that I want to share from my conference notes that I've decided to post the entire week on some of the weekend highlights for me. So stay tuned!

Courtney and Angela also share about their conference experiences here and here.

And then everything changed...

I used to live a regimented lifestyle. Always on time. Franklin-Covey planner marked up and checked off to a T. Neat freak and paper filer. I even remember a day when my clothes closet was methodically organized by color, beginning with the lightest shade, and gradually darkening in color as the shirt line grew deeper. Aahhhh.

And then I had kids.

Amazing, isn’t it, how one tiny little person can change everything? Forget the color-coded closet nonsense (wow, did I need a hobby!). Some days I’m just lucky to get the wet laundry switched into the dryer before it sits too long and I’m forced to re-run the load all over again.

But I like this new me much better than the old one. I like approaching train tracks with a minivan full of kids and silently thinking, “Man, I hope we get stopped by one today.” The old me would have grumbled at the delay. The new me wants the first spot next to the crossing, so my kids have the best view (okay, and so the engineer can see us all giddily pumping our arms up and down in hopes that he’ll sound the whistle – for just a little longer than necessary – at our hyper request). I used to complain about things like a blanket of fresh snow on the ground, and would immediately think of compromised commutes and of how winter drags on for what seems like forever here in the Midwest. Now I join my kids and with pure excitement, we sprint to the nearest window and cheer loudly at the sight of the first snowflake. And then I shallowly ask God to make it that perfectly packing kind, just right for boy-sized snowballs and snowmen.

Sure, the little inconveniences that surround things like busy train tracks and snow storms still exist. But my identity as a mom has given me a new perspective on life. A much sweeter, freeing perspective.

Ephesians brings us good news. There was a baby who changed everything over two thousand years ago. His name was Jesus.

His coming was less than glamorous and certainly not convenient according to human terms, but He would prove to change the path of humanity in an instant. The world would still remain incredibly imperfect, but suddenly He gave us reason to see life in a whole new way. A different perspective.

A future and a hope…

Jesus.

Are you living with the perspective as one who is forgiven today, or are you still stuck in the “old” you? Focused on the inconvenient, or living joyously free? Confident in your identity in Christ, or looking to the world for value and fulfillment?

He came, and everything changed…

“BUT GOD, who is rich in mercy,

because of His great love with which He loved us,

even when we were dead in trespasses,

MADE US ALIVE together with Christ – it is by grace you have been saved.”

Ephesians 2:4-5

Today, you can LIVE like you KNOW it.

A little help here (and introducing Good Morning Girls!)...

I'm a groupie, I'll admit it.

Dictionary definition of Groupie - "An enthusiastic follower of some group or activity."

And time has proven that if I have trouble with the enthusiastic bit when it comes to a certain activity, then being a follower in a group will get me way more motivated than if I tackled the activity on my own. Anybody with me?

Take exercising, for example. I have a sad, sad track record with that evil word. Ha. It took my first pregnancy (and that crazy 60 pound weight gain!) to get me just a tiny bit motivated to do something to keep my body in shape, and still I never seemed to be able to fit it into my schedule (remember the days before kids when we thought we were really, really busy?! Haha.). I tried, but failed at any consistency in my workouts. It wasn't until two girlfriends and I schemed to meet at the crack of dawn several mornings a week to chat - uh, I mean walk - for an hour before work that I actually followed through with anything. If I wasn't at the end of my driveway by 5:30am, someone was going to knock on my door. You'd better believe that I would have snoozed my alarm and rolled back over a hundred times if I didn't have that accountability on my doorstep. That year, I may not have gotten in the best shape of my life, but I learned the very important skill of not getting completely out of breath while walking and talking simultaneously, both at a non-stop pace. :)

And I also learned the art of self discipline.

Bible reading is the same for me. I need accountability. I need consistency to make a difference in my spiritual walk. I need someone "showing up" to make sure that I'm going to show up too. I wish it wasn't true. I wish it could all come from me. But the reality is I need others to spur me on.

God knew that would be the case:

"Let us not give up meeting together..."

"Let us encourage one another...."

"Let us consider how we may spur one another on ...."

"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up..."

"But exhort one another every day..."

After crying out to God to give me a renewed passion for and renewed commitment to His Word, it's time to take action. I can make all of the goals that I want, and definitely need to pray for God to help me (please do!!), but if I don't actually do it, I never did my part to show up on the driveway, you know?

My action starts here, at one of my favorite blogs ever:

Starting January 16, I am going to be accountable to a small group of women who share the same passion as me to daily be in the Word. We're studying Ephesians together, and a schedule is already all laid out for us, thanks to my friend Angela at Good Morning Girls (GMG).

According to their blog...

“Good Morning Girls” are groups of Christian women who email, facebook, twitter or text message to keep each other accountable for their quiet times."

Accountability? Yes, please.

It's tech accountability, so I don't have to fit one more "outing" into my schedule. I simply read the short Bible text assigned for the day (seriously, just a handful of verses - totally attainable!), spend time with God by journaling some thoughts with the plan provided, and send a quick message to my GMG girls about the passage of the day.

A group of women to encourage you, pray for you, and keep you on track in your commitment.

I love it.

There's still time to form a group and sign up. Grab one, two, or five friends, and start 2012 in God's Word daily...

... with a little help from your friends.

For study details, hop on over to Good Morning Girls here.